Jessie Bellard, St. Landry Parish Government representative, surveys the damage to the ceiling of a Harper Street residence caused by Thursday's heavy rains in the Opelousas area.

Written by

Zane Hill
zhill@dailyworld.com

Since 2008 Opelousas homeowner Vanessa Crawford had been waiting for federal grant money to repair her roof from the damage that Hurricane Gustav did to it.

This week's rain finished it off.

Crawford said she woke up at around 5:30 Thursday morning to discover a hole in the ceiling in her front room and the entire room and kitchen floor flooded. Not a month ago, she had just finished replacing the floor, walls and ceiling, which had long suffered from storm-induced rot. Now, it's back to square one. ...